Mrs. Kersh's It: Welcome To Derry Season 1 Finale Return Is Deeper Than You Think

This article contains spoilers for the season 1 finale of "It: Welcome to Derry."

The final scene in "It: Welcome to Derry" season 1 featured "It: Chapter Two" actress Joan Gregson reprising the role of an elderly Ingrid Kersh. Gregson gave a brief but deeply unsettling performance to wrap up the show's debut season in what was, sadly, her final role. The actor passed away in June of 2025 at the age of 92.

The "It: Welcome to Derry" finale was the show at its best and its worst, presenting a thrilling conclusion to season 1 that also felt a little less grounded and therefore less effective than the gut-punch of an installment that was episode 7. The whole pillar aspect and the tree on the riverbank felt half-baked, and the sunny conclusion to a show that has been relentlessly gruesome and scary from the outset didn't quite work. Thankfully, creators Jason Fuchs and Andy and Barbara Muschietti added a more suitably dreary addendum to the finale that has been met positively by fans.

This prologue takes the form of a flash-forward sequence set in 1988, 26 years after the events of "Welcome to Derry" season 1 and just a year before 2017's "It" movie. It depicts an elderly Ingrid Kersh leaving her room at Juniper Hill Asylum after hearing screams. In room 115, Kersh discovers a distraught Beverly Marsh and her father, who are inconsolable after having discovered Bev's mother hanging in her room. Not only is this scene notable for featuring the return of Sophia Lillis, who played Bev in the two "It" movies, but it also represents Gregson's last ever role before her passing.

The eerie cameo in the "It: Welcome to Derry" finale was a much more fitting conclusion to the story than the more upbeat scenes of Jovan Adepo's Leroy Hanlon deciding to keep his family in Derry and Chris Chalk's Dick Hallorann embarking on a new adventure. It was also a nice way to pay tribute to Joan Gregson by bringing the actress back to the world of "It" for one last time before her passing — though nobody could have known that's how it would play out.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, show co-creator Barbara Muschietti revealed that Gregson passed away at the age of 92 in June of 2025, having shot the scene just two months prior in April of 2025. "She was 91 when we shot," said Muschietti. "She was hilarious and so talented and just so game for it."

According to the co-creator, it was actually a camera operator who thought to bring back Gregson. Angelo Colavecchia, who'd worked with director Andy Muschietti on both "It" and 2019's "It: Chapter Two," mentioned how he'd recently worked with the actor on a separate project. As Andy told EW, "I was pleasantly surprised because you assume that person is retired or something, but I was very glad to hear that she was still around and working." After this, Gregson was brought in to reprise the role of Kersh on "Welcome to Derry," having previously played her in the last film. "She had the most incredible life," Barbara added. "She was a theater actor for most of her life. It was such an honor to be able to get her back. She was very happy to be there."

Throughout "Welcome to Derry" season 1, Ingrid Kersh was played by Madeleine Stowe, who was obsessed with Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) due to the fact that he'd stolen her father, Bob Gray's, likeness. After the crazed clown exposed Kersh to the deadlights, however, she went insane and was taken to Juniper Hill Asylum. As the show revealed, she remained for the rest of her life. Kersh was essentially a secret "Welcome to Derry" character who raised all kinds of questions about whether this was the same woman we'd previously seen in a short scene from "It: Chapter Two." Turns out, it was.

In the 2019 movie, which is set in 2016, Jessica Chastain's older Beverly Marsh visits Mrs. Kersh at her home, only for the elderly woman to transform into a giant monster who chases Bev through the halls of the Neibolt Street house. In this scene, Kersh was portrayed by Joan Gregson, and with "Welcome to Derry" providing a back story for the character, the whole vision takes on a new significance.

We now know that the elderly Mrs. Kersh was actually a real Derry resident at one point. What's more, we know why It chose to use the older Mrs. Kersh to frighten Bev. She was a face that Chastain's character would have remembered from the moment she discovered her mother's dead body at Juniper Hill, and It was preying on that memory to terrify her. Say what you will about "Welcome to Derry" and its shortcomings, but it's pretty impressive how the show creators managed to weave all this lore together to create a cohesive whole. The fact that "Welcome to Derry" was Gregson's final role just makes it even more special.